The proper footy starts tomorrow, Hurray. And Welcome Josh Onomah

So we’ll be up and running again by this time tomorrow and about time too.
It’s rubbish when we aren’t doing the serious stuff, isn’t it?

That said, it’s my firm belief that strange things can happen in the first game of the season, where teams can look totally disjointed and the performances are often lethargic, as the fitness isn’t quite there yet.
Then again, the first fixtures are normally played in very warm weather, but having seen the forecasts, that won’t be an excuse.

In short, I’m not going to set much store by what happens tomorrow, as the first game is more an extension of the pre-season friendlies, in my opinion.

So what do we know squad-wise?
I’m not going to talk about us much, as it’s been done to death, save to say Grealish, De laet, Jedinak, Adomah and Kodjia are definitely out.
I think we’re pretty ok otherwise, but blimey, that’s arguably half of our top eleven.
Yep, we’re certainly one lucky club of late, aren’t we?

Hull, well, I don’t really care, to be honest, but midfielder David Meyler is doubtful and Moses Odubajo, Will Keane, Ryan Mason and David Marshall are all injured.
I really don’t know if any of them are a major loss.

So what to think?

It’s a tricky one to call, this, but we’re at home and Hull have lost a few players, which ought to give us the edge.
But then, I’ve been consistent in saying that I’m not seeing where the goals will come from, so don’t see many goals overall.

So while I don’t have a clue how Hull will line up, things very much depend on how Steve Bruce sees things and if he has the bottle to go for it against a declining club.

I’m going to take a stab and say we’ll go 4-4-2, with this line-up;

Johnstone, Hutton, Chester, Terry, Taylor, Whelan, Green, Almohamady, Hourihane, Hogan, Agbonlahor.

That’s not how I’d go, as Gabby would be an impact player at best.
But it’s what I suspect Bruce might do.

There’s always the possibility that Bruce might throw our new loanee, Josh Onoma straight in, but I’ll be very surprised if he does.

Which leads me nicely onto my thoughts about him.
Let’s get one thing straight.
He’s seen by some of the press as a rushed signing to cover for Jack Grealish.
Er, except he really isn’t, because he’s more a box-to box type midfielder, where Jack can’t track back to save his life.

I know I’ve said I don’t like loans, but this is certainly the sort of player we need.
But this kid has never started a game for Spurs, simple as and that concerns me.
Can he even manage 90 minutes? Perhaps I’m just too cynical.

What’s interesting about this one is that while Daniel Levy has let him go on loan, he also tied the player up to a new contract, hence guaranteeing a transfer fee, should he leave the club.
And Spurs have not kept a player that they’ve loaned out, under the Pochettino/Levi partnership.
Hence I think we’re looking to actually buy him.
I hope he does well for us and welcome him.
But what does it say about our own kids who are supposed to be coming through?
Hmm, it says a lot, in my opinion.

In other news, we’ve teamed up with Science in sports PLC to provide the grub and Isotonic drinks and all that rubbish, to the players.
I’m sure this is old news, but whatever.
How I long for the old days, where the instructions were “I don’t give a toss what you do, just get the ball up there and put it in their net.”
We have all this science/stat stuff, but the game has got worse, imo.

Balls on the block then and it has 0-0 written all over it.

But I’m going for a 1-0 win to us, in what will be a rubbish game, purely because we’re at home.

I hope.
UTV!